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SHARON Osbourne has broken her silence by responding to touching tributes paid to her beloved late husband Ozzy.
The iconic singer – dubbed the Prince of Darkness – passed away after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease, it was confirmed yesterday.
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Now, his loving wife Sharon has responded to fans sending their condolences on social media.
She replied to one message shared by musician Gavin Rossdale.
The Bush singer posted a picture of himself with Ozzy on Instagram, with the caption: “RIP OZZY – a great man – a true legend – I met Ozzy through Jack just a few times, but he was so warm and kind and funny and I love that memory.
“Sending much love to his family at this difficult time. Rest in power.”
Sharon wrote underneath “bless you” in acknowledgement of the tribute.
The late rock star’s wife also replied to BBC Radio 1 DJ Jack Saunders’ message of support.
“Jack thank you for your tribute to Ozzy tonight, bless you,” she commented.
Ozzy died at the family mansion in Buckinghamshire with his wife Sharon, 72, and four of his six children by his side.
Thames Valley Air Ambulance confirmed an air ambulance was dispatched to “provide advanced critical care”.
Sharon — married for 43 years — said in a joint statement that he had been “surrounded by love”.
Ozzy’s life changed forever when Sharon Levy turned up at the door in 1970.
He later said of the woman who became his second wife: “If it weren’t for her, without a shadow of a doubt, I would be dead.”
Sharon, then 27, was the daughter of Black Sabbath’s manager Don Arden.
They’d first met when she was 18 and working as her dad’s receptionist.
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The singer wrote in his autobiography I Am Ozzy: “I fell for Sharon so badly, man.”
Sharon convinced the wreck that he could be a solo star, and that she should be the one to manage him.
In one of his last interviews, Ozzy described the reality TV star and X Factor judge as his “soulmate”.
He said: “Sometimes I love her, sometimes I don’t love her, sometimes I’m angry with her, sometimes I’m crazy about her, sometimes I’m very jealous of her, sometimes I wanna f***ing kill her.
“But through it all, at the end of the day, I love her more than anything in the world.”
As Sharon took over running Ozzy’s professional life, the Brummie lad quickly realised that he had never met a woman like her before.
In his 2009 biography, I Am Ozzy, he revealed: “I’d never come across a girl who was like me. Wherever we went, we were always the drunkest and the loudest.
“I learned that when Sharon is on a mission, she’ll throw herself at it, lock, stock and barrel, and not stop fighting until well after the bell’s rung.
“I trusted Sharon like I’d never trusted anyone before on the business side of things.”
Not only did she become mother to his three children Aimee, Kelly and Jack but she also got things back on track.
Wild and hilarious Ozzy stories
1. Ozzy once told Sharon: “Don’t cremate me, whatever you do.
“I want to be put in the ground, in a nice garden somewhere, with a tree over my head.
“A crabapple tree, preferably, so the kids can make wine out of me and get pissed out of their heads.
“As for what they’ll put on my headstone, I ain’t under any illusions.
“If I close my eyes, I can already see it:
“Ozzy Osbourne, born 1948
“Died, whenever.
“He bit the head off a bat.”
2. Ozzy decided to stop using acid while recording Black Sabbath album Vol 4.
He said: “I took ten tabs of acid then went for a walk in a field.
“I ended up standing there talking to this horse for about an hour.
“In the end, the horse turned around and told me to f**k off.
“That was it for me.”
3. The rocker began tattooing himself as a teenager while growing up in Birmingham.
He said: “I even put a smiley face on each of my knees to cheer myself up when I was sitting on the bog in the morning.”
Decades later he had ‘thanks’ tattooed on his right palm.
He said: “It seemed like a brilliant idea at the time.
“How many times do you say ‘thanks’ to people during your lifetime?
“Tens of thousands, probably.
“Now all I had to do was raise my right hand.”
4. The Osbournes had a donkey called Sally, who used to sit in the living room with Ozzy and watch Match Of The Day.
5. Former slaughterhouse worker Ozzy claimed to have killed his family’s cats while high.
He recalled: “I was taking drugs so much I was a f***ed.
“The final straw came when I shot all our cats.
“We had about 17, and I went crazy and shot them all.
“My wife found me under the piano in a white suit – a shotgun in one hand and a knife in the other.”
6. The Prince of Darkness was interested in the Bible.
He said: “I’ve tried to read it several times.
“But I’ve only ever got as far as the bit about Moses being 720 years old, and I’m like, ‘What were these people smoking back then?’”
7. Ozzy met the late Queen at the Royal Variety Performance.
He recalled: “I was standing next to Cliff Richard.
“She took one look at the two of us, and said, “Oh, so this is what they call variety, is it?” then cracked up laughing.
“I honestly thought Sharon must have slipped some acid into my cornflakes that morning.”
8. Ozzy loved putting hidden messages in songs.
He said: “On No Rest For The Wicked, if you play Bloodbath In Paradise backwards, you can clearly hear me saying, ‘Your mother sells whelks in Hull’.”
Debut solo album Blizzard of Ozz, with big numbers like Crazy Train, Suicide Solution and Mr Crowley, appeared in September 1980, and eventually sold more than five million copies.
Sharon also amped up his satanic image, encouraging stage antics such as flinging animal entrails into the audience.
Sharon and Ozzy wed in Hawaii on July 4, 1982.
However, in 1989 Ozzy’s hardcore partying lifestyle took a sinister turn when he tried to strangle Sharon.
Although the couple have famously spoken about how they both gave as good as they got, the incident saw Ozzy seek help for his drug use.
She agreed not to press charges if he went to rehab – a decision that allowed the artist to continue performing and become the icon he is remembered as today.
Along with Sharon and his kids, they became global TV sensations through their groundbreaking fly-on-the-wall documentary The Osbournes.
It was such a smash hit that it paved the way for similar reality shows featuring Paris Hilton and later The Kardashians.
Sharon was also by Ozzy’s side throughout his health battles over the years,
The rockstar suffered a spinal injury after an accident at his LA home in 2019 that required him to undergo surgery on his neck.
He was sadly diagnosed with Parkinson’s the same year and revealed the sad news a year later in an emotional joint interview with Sharon.
The singer told Good Morning America at the time that he couldn’t hide his health struggles any longer.
Explaining the condition, Sharon said: “It’s Parkin 2 which is a form of Parkinson’s. There are so many different types of Parkinson’s.
“It’s not a death sentence by any stretch of the imagination but it does affect the nerves in your body.
“It’s like you’ll have a good day, then a good day and then a really bad day.”
Ozzy added: “A year ago I was in a terrible state. I’m on a host of medication, mainly for the surgery.
“I’ve got numbness down this arm and my legs are going cold. I don’t know if it’s the Parkinson’s or what. That’s the problem.”
Following a spate of nasty injuries in 2022 Ozzy was also forced to cancel an upcoming tour after revealing he was “not physically capable” of the travel required.
But the Black Sabbath star still took to the stage one final time with his band mates at Villa Park in Birmingham earlier this month.
Only three weeks ago, the Prince of Darkness who brought light into so many lives gave us one last hurrah when heavy metal royalty descended on Villa Park, to pay their respects.
The Back to the Beginning gig ended with him – seated on a giant black throne because he could not stand – joining his Black Sabbath muckers on the songs that took him to the world stage.
The icon vowed, however, that it would be his final performance due to his deteriorating health.
‘HE SECURED HIS PLACE IN THE PANTHEON OF ROCK GODS’
Ozzy’s death on Tuesday drew condolences from stars including Sir Rod Stewart, Noel Gallagher and Sir Elton John.
And yesterday friends said many big names wanted to salute the bat-munching, self-proclaimed Prince of Darkness, who became a national treasure.
Such a service would be held ahead of a smaller private funeral.
A source told The Sun: “There are conversations about a celebration of his life in Birmingham, the city that meant so much to him.
“Artists like Yungblud, who was seen by Ozzy as a musician who could carry on the mantle of what he started all those years ago, is expected to have a role in it.
“There are hundreds of big names who will want to pay their respects and celebrate his life and legacy, as well as thousands of fans who would line the streets to say goodbye.”
A new documentary, No Escape From Now, is set to air on Paramount+ later this year, following his life since a fall in 2019 — before his Parkinson’s diagnosis — left him needing a series of ops on his back and neck.
Tributes poured in for the legendary singer from across the music world.
Sir Elton John shared a photo of himself alongside Ozzy with the message: “So sad to hear the news of Ozzy Osbourne passing away.
“He was a dear friend and a huge trailblazer who secured his place in the pantheon of rock gods – a true legend.
“He was also one of the funniest people I’ve ever met. I will miss him dearly.
“To Sharon and the family, I send my condolences and love. Elton xx”
Singer-songwriter Yungblud wrote on X: “I didn’t think you would leave so soon the last time we met you were so full of life and your laugh filled up the room.
“But as it is written with legends, they seem to know things that we don’t.
“I will never forget you – you will be in every single note I sing and with me every single time I walk on stage.
“Your cross around my neck is the most precious thing I own.
“You asked me once if there was anything you could do for me and as I said then and as I will say now for all of us the music was enough.
“You took us on your adventure – an adventure that started it all. I am truly heartbroken. You were the greatest of all time.”
Ozzy Osbourne’s iconic career
The singer then pursued his love of music after hearing The Beatles hit She Loves You in 1963, aged 15.
After appearing in a handful of school plays, Ozzy joined Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler in their first group Rare Breed in 1967.
When that band split, the pair reunited in Polka Tulk Blues alongside Tony Iommi and drummer Bill Ward.
The group later became known as Black Sabbath and went onto shatter the music world with their whining guitar solos, Occult-based lyrics and Ozzy’s screeching vocals.
In 1970, the group gained a cult following in both the US and UK after releasing their eponymous first album.
Black Sabbath saw incredible success with hit tracks such as Paranoid but discord in the group saw most of the original line-up leave.
Ozzy himself quit the band in 1978, with a spiral into drug abuse leading to a divorce from first wife Thelma Mayfair, who he had two children with.
It was then he first met a young Sharon Arden, who Ozzy at first wrote off as he believed she would think he was a “lunatic”.
But the singer could not be more wrong and the pair married in Hawaii in July 1982 before going on to have three children together, Aimee, Kelly and Jack.
With Sharon’s encouragement and help from her music manager dad Don, he began to carve out a successful solo career.
His seminal first album Blizzard of Ozz in 1980 became a multi-platinum success thanks to Ozzy’s howling vocals and macabre laugh on hit Crazy Train.
Coupled with the Prince of Darkness’ insane tour that saw him bite the head off a live bat, a string of successful tracks followed – cementing Ozzy as a rock legend around the world.
In 1992, the singer announced his retirement but four years later created the beloved annual music festival Ozzfest with Sharon, which featured heavy metal acts touring the US and some of Europe.
Ozzy returned to Black Sabbath in 1999, with the band winning a Grammy for best metal performance for the song Iron Man.
They later earned the same award in 2013 after releasing single God Is Dead? from album 13.
Queen icon Sir Brian May also paid tribute, saying Ozzy’s final concert earlier in the month “was a glorious way to say goodbye” to the heavy metal vocalist.
The guitarist said on social media: “So sad to hear of Ozzie’s passing.
“His last appearance at Villa Park was a glorious way to say goodbye – the love in that place for him was gigantic.
“I’m grateful I was able to have a few quiet words with him after the show. And happy to know he passed peacefully with his loving family close by.”
He added: “But the world will miss Ozzie’s unique presence and fearless talent. My heartfelt consolations to Sharon and their great family.
“And to Bill (Ward) and Geezer (Butler) and my dear friend Tony (Iommi) – for this is family – I know only too well. REST IN PEACE dear Ozzie. Bri.”
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